6.5 Rem Mag or 264 Win Mag???

[Elkslayer1]

Hi. I am building a 6.5 on a 300 Win Mag action and am not sure if I should go with a 6.5 Rem Mag or a 264 Win Mag? I am using a 26" shillen 1 in 8 twist and want to shoot 140 VLD's.

It looks like the 6.5 Rem MAg may be the way to go to get 3000 fps and almost 99% case capacity vs around 75% case capacity of the 264 Win Mag.

Please give me the good and bad of each?

P.S. would like to get around 1500 or more shots out of this barrel.

 

[Elkslayer1]

ttt

 

[4bycamper]

Seems to me that brass and loaded ammo availability will be the biggest difference.

The 6.5 Remmy will be hard to find brass and pretty rare ammo.

The 264 Winnie was (or is) a lot more popular, and brass is still being made from at times.
If you're into reloading, you can re size 7mm rem mag brass into 6.5 Win. And 7mm rem brass is available everywhere.

Sounds like a fun project. Enjoy. gun)

 

[BillR]

I'm getting 3180 with a 142 grain SMK and that kind of skew's your numbers you have up there. Its a great cartridge and shoots flat but really works the throat over. So does a 6.5X284 and any of the other hi intensity 6.5's. Your not really gaining much over the 6.5X284 by using the 6.5 Rem Mag except to say that you have one which is not all that bad but finding the brass for it is a PITA and almost the same for the .264 WM except that all you really have to do with the .264 is run 7MM Rem mag brass through the .264 die and trim it and you are there. Case head is wrong is all.
If you can find a quantity of the 6.5 RM its a good cartridge though. Easiest one to do is the 6.5-06 AI as it gets the performance with about the same loadings and access to good brass.

 

[LouBoyd]

The 6.5 Rem mag should be easier if starting with a 300 Win Mag action than a 6.5-06 since it doesn't require a bolt modification. For shooting VLDs a 6.5-06 or a 264 Win mag won't shoot VLDs from a SAAMI length (3.34") mgazine either . A 6.5 WSM is a possible choice too. Both the 6.5 Rem Mag and the 6.5 WSM would be better in a long action for shooting VLD bullets than the short actions usually used for factory rifles.

When I had this choice to make I chose a 264 Win Mag in a Rem 700 (3.6") long action with a 28" barrel throated for 140 Bergers. It gives excellent performance 1000 yards (+) from a bipod or bags but its' too heavy for a stalking rifle. It may only give 1000 shots but I doubt I'll wear it out.

 

[OKIE2]

Have your barrel nitraited and shoot the 264 for the rest of your life you can never wear it out.

 

[WildRose]

Hi. I am building a 6.5 on a 300 Win Mag action and am not sure if I should go with a 6.5 Rem Mag or a 264 Win Mag? I am using a 26" shillen 1 in 8 twist and want to shoot 140 VLD's.

It looks like the 6.5 Rem MAg may be the way to go to get 3000 fps and almost 99% case capacity vs around 75% case capacity of the 264 Win Mag.

Please give me the good and bad of each?

P.S. would like to get around 1500 or more shots out of this barrel.

You should be able to get 1,000-1,500 shots through with either provided you never get the barrel hot. My 7mm STW is rapidly closing in on 1,000rds and my gunsmith recently bore scoped it and said it has well over half it's life left. Since I bought it I've always shot hot loads, but on only one occasion did ever fire more than a 3 shot string in less than three minutes and I have always allowed it to cool completely when firing more than three shots.

Between the two choices you list the 6.5 Rem is by far the "coolest" but it's also difficult to get brass for in comparison to the .264 which offers better performance as well.

If you want a 6.5 that will give you virtually unlimited barrel life and still get velocities over 2,800 FPS I'd say go with the .260 Rem which gives up very little performance wise to the .264 mags.

Any of the three will most certainly fit your needs and desired barrel life if you'll only shoot them enough to break them in, clean them completely and I mean completely and then send them off to be Melonited.

Of course I own both the .260 Rem in an LR AR rig, and a .264 700 Rem.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

No Brainer for me. I am a .264 Win Mag Man & I have now moved over to Nosler Brass which is excellent. I am still shooting a factory barrel with a little over 600+ rounds down range still going strong, I hope some day to shoot it out then I will move up to a # 4 contour barrel with a length of 26. One can always load down & reduce ones velocity but MAX is MAX in any round. I hope you do get to shoot it out, I would bet you like most of us and shoot a variety of rifles & one does not get all the shooting.

 

[Greyfox]

Having worked with these cartridges over the years, and a big fan of the 6.5, I have found the 6.5-284 to be a good balance of velocity, accuracy, barrel life, as well as the easy availability of quality brass. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the 6.5 -284 is at least equal or better than the magnums as far as barrel life is concerned, shooting conditions being equal. The case design seems to be excellent for achieving very low ES. I get 3025FPS out of both my rifles, 24-26" barrels with near 100% case usage. This velocity seems to be at the high end of the 140 VLD's sweet spot. I can easily get 10 reloadings out of Lapua brass. My intention is not to discourage the use of the magnums, both quality cartridges, but wanted to offer another viewpoint given the OP's stated criteria.

 

[1100 Remington Man]

I'm with you Greyfox if I was working with a standard bolt face I would be all over a 6.5-284. To tell the truth I like a lot of other people started out young with Magnum fever when I was young. Now about .264 Win Mag is as big as I like to shoot only going to my 300 H & H Mag for Bear Or Elk. I'm not a fan of recoil.